CAIR-FL In The News

Gaza violence, embassy opening in Israel divide South Florida

While the opening of the American Embassy in Jerusalem was a historic day for South Florida's Jewish community, Monday's violence in the Gaza Strip that led to more than 50 Palestinians killed and more than 2,000 injured cast a pall over the momentous occasion.

It's "an exciting event and day for us," said Guy Gilady, deputy consul general of Israel in Miami, who also expressed concern about the escalating violence in Gaza, about 50 miles from Jerusalem.

"The numbers are horrific and really this is loss of life and for what? Nothing," said Gilady. "I believe the majority of the people on the other side are like you and [me]. But they are ruled by a terrorist organization."

Those representing the Palestinian community had a different view of Monday's events.

"We condemn this massacre of civilian protesters — including children, medical personnel and the disabled — who seek to shake the conscience of an international community that has long ignored or excused Israel's past dispossession of the Palestinian people,'' said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who is of Palestinian heritage.

The mass protests along the Gaza Strip began on March 30 when Israeli forces clashed with some 30,000 Palestinians, leaving 18 dead and hundreds wounded. The protests were over Israel's economic blockade of the region.

Protesters run away from tear gas dispersed by Israeli forces as they inch closer to the border fence separating Israel and Gaza in a camp east of Gaza City, Gaza on Monday, May 14, 2018.

Marcus Yam Los Angeles Times/TNS

As Israel's 70th anniversary approached — celebrated in April due to the Hebrew calendar, but the date of the country's establishment is May 14, 1948 — the violence escalated, leaving dozens dead.

With the United States moving the embassy Monday from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a city that the international community has considered neutral due to competing ownership claims by the two sides, the protests bubbled up. On Monday, Israeli armed forces killed at least 58 people, including several teenagers, as waves of Palestinians tried to burst through the border fence separating Gaza from Israel.

More than 2,000 people were injured in the violence, the worst since 2014. Many were shot.

Gilady said Israel has no choice but to protect its borders, from people threatening the country's existence.

"Gaza has been taken over by a terrorist group, Hamas," he said, adding Hamas has been sending thousands of people to the border to "infiltrate Israel."

As for the embassy opening in Jerusalem, Gilady praised President Donald Trump's decision.

"This was a natural move made by the administration," he said. "Every country should be free to choose their own capital. This is only one more step to strengthen the bond, the relationship and the alliance between Israel and America."

But, Ruiz countered, America's decision to move its embassy only inflamed the situation.

"We see no purpose in America's foreign policy in doing this move," he said. "America is taking one side."

Ruiz said the provenance of Jerusalem is something that should be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.

"This is not about Muslims and Jews,'' Ruiz said. "It's an Israeli-Palestinian conflict and should remain that."

Ibraheem Mohammed Al-Tubassi, father, top, and other family members bid farewell to Yazan Ibraheem Mohammed Al-Tubassi, 23, at the Shifa Hospital morgue after he was shot by Israeli forces during the protest at the border fence separating Israel and Gaza in a camp east of Gaza City on Monday, May 14, 2018. Marcus Yam Los Angeles Times/TNS

Ultra orthodox Jews stand by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump outside the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, May 14, 2018. Eyal Warshavsky AP

President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin attended the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, May 14, 2018. Amid deadly clashes along the Israeli-Palestinian border, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening as a campaign promised fulfilled. Yonatan Sindel Flash90/AP